The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1887-12-23

In meetin' time. Gran ma is old-it' 5
different with her,"
Eye don't remember, do YEP" asked
Antioch, with what feelin' NV re-
Lief. ye used ter hear the last hymn
given out? The congregation used ter
stand up an turn round an face the
choir in the gall'ry. And everybody
sung, too, fur in them days folks didn't
hev ter get musical eidicashuns afore
they cutl praise God"
Sing? Why, L should say sou
cried Coronation. s'They want no
great folks, an there never wuz much
airs on the wes' side O The mountain.
nohow, but in meetin' house on Sum
day. they jest lifted up their voices ez
much ez to says If Gods ears is open
to-day there amt nobody goin' to get
the start NV the Newfane folksr All,
Hiram Atkins, that wuz sacred music
we mad in them days!'
~ don't understand it, nuther,"
Said China, in quavering voice, Gun
less 'twaz cause in them days we had
plain meetin' houses instead O
churches, an plain ministers ter
preach plain gospel instead o eminent
diyines ter deliver eloquent discourses
like they hev in these hifalutin' days.
Leastwise, it's all sort O. different an
changed like now, an with the change
we OF tunes is forgotten.
ooh, no, not forgotten" cried
Hiram. Some of us, perhaps, are
ashamed, in these different days, of
the quaint old tunes our gran mas use
ter sing, but we hain't forgot 'em-oh,
no, we hain't forgot 'em. They haunt
us like sweet memories, an very, very
often the thought on 'em brings inter
our lives somethin' that makes US
purer an stronger an BETTER
"Waal, l hope SO, sighed Hamburg,
'leastwise I'm glad to hear ye say so,
Hiram, fur we wuz wild boy-yes, ye
wuz dre'ful coltish Men."
'Hush, don't speak so loud, the
children might hear ye," said Hiram,
starting up and gazing apprehensively
around him. "You're wrong, old
friend; l was very sedate boy, as l
remember distinctly"
"Waal, now, did you everr' ex-
claimed the tunes in chorus; and then
they all laughed-ay, and Old Hundred
lau ghed loudest of all.
'It's powerful curious how man
tries ter forgit he ever wuz a boy"
said Refuge. you use ter cut up
worse'n any other boy in Wind am
County, Hiram Atkins, an you know
it! Why, all on us know how you use
ter carry on at choir meetin', and on
Sundays, too-yes, stree, on Sundays,
too!'
Eyes, wuz member O. the choir
said Hiram, sullenly.
so course we wuz," said State
Street; ''an' We sung an alfred honest
book, too, as I well remember An
don't ye recollect Mirandy Perkins?"
Miranda Perkins? Of course he did.
Hiram had waited on her for two years
before he went West. She had red
cheeks and glossy black curls, and her
eyes were full of mischief seemed to
Hiram he could see her now, in her
bright delaine gown and quaint shaker
bonnet. 1t was pleasant picture.
Miranda used to sing alto in the choir
There were eight of them in the choir
the two Morse girls, Susan Baxter,
Lew Higgins, Hepsy Burdette, Miranda
Perkins and himself, Hiram Atkins.
He remembered them all. and by the
dear light the old une-book threw
around him he could see them now,
too
Miranda Perkins! He wondered what
had become of her; she must be a
wrinkled and gray-haired woman now
yet, somehow, he could think of her
only as the red-cheeked, black-eyed
girl who had sung alto to his bass in
the Newfane choir. ...
"Mirandy married Sam Baxter"
said Lenox. 1--WE wuz all at the we'd
din, an pulitzer couple never sot out
together. S'pose we don't remember
Sam, do ye? Lived with the OF folks
on the farm near the Townsend toll
gate; use ter sing tenor in the choir
when you wuz there. -
$50 Mirandy TUX up with Sam, did
she?" muttered Hiram. ''Humph, she
mighter done bettern
Hiram had never liked Sam Baxter:
now he hated him. Yet it was twenty
five years since he had seen Sam-or
Miranda, either, for that matter. He
remembered Sam as a loutish fellow,
with tow hair and habit of singing
very much out of tune, and when he
thought of Miranda Perkins all of
Hiram recollections of Sam Baxter s
unpleasant characteristics were revived
with intensity.
''But they moved down ter Pond
vile the mex spring after they wuz
married, said Migdol, San we hahn t
seen 'em sence."
Guess We wuz sort o. gone on
Mirandy. yerself, WANT YEP" inquired
Dedham, slyly. 81 can recollect how
ye use ter purr round her."
"Oh, you git out!' said Hiram. But
the soft light in Hiram's eyes and the
faint flush that peeped through his
grizzled whiskers belied his words.
1T looked powerful like it," said
Dedham, IAN you two young folks use
ter cut up terrible in meetin' -'spe-
cially drrin' the second pray'r. Why,
I've seen ye eatin' apples behind the
origin an maxim faces at Deacon
Moses Skinner, an writin' notes ter
each other an a-drawin' picters in
the hymn books Once ye borrered
Noble Pratt's jack-knife ter whittle a
picter O two hearts on the back O the
origin, an We labeled one on 'em M.
fur Mirandy, an 'tother H. fur
Hiram. Do ye remember it?"
YES, an Lem Haskell, the good
young man who pumped the origin,
csuoht We at il - internosed Rovlnston